Tufting machine with needle plate



March 28, 1961 R. T. CARD TUETING MACHINE WITH NEEDLE PLATE Filed June 24. 1959 UnitedStates Patent O TUFIING MACHINE WITH NEEDLE PLATE Roy T. Card, Chattanooga, Tenn., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Singer-Cobble, Inc., a corporation of Delaware, and a subsidiary ofthe Singer Manufacturing Company Filed June 24, 1959, Ser. No. 822,632

7 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) This invention relates to a needle plate for a multiple needle tufting machine and more particularly to a needle plate especially adapted for a line needle gauge in a tufting machine.

In a conventional multiple needle tufting machine, a needle plate is provided for supporting the base fabric which is fed thereover beneath the needles and above the loop forming mechanism which cooperates with the needles to form tufted pile fabric. The conventional needle plate is provided with a plurality of uniformly spaced straight fingers extending from the edge of the needle plate in the direction of fabric feed, each linger extending between an adjacent pair of needles. These fingers are adapted to provide a support for the fabric immediately beneath the needles and simultaneously to permit the free reciprocation of the needles between the lingers. The needle plate is sometimes referred to as a reed plate or a throat plate. In a conventional multiple needle tufting machine, the needle plate lingers are uniformly spaced at the same gauge as the needles, but staggered so that each linger will pass midway between adjacent needles.

Where it is desired to produce line gauge tufted fabrics such as a /32 gauge and smaller, it is customary to locate the needles in two transverse rows with the needles in one row being staggered with respect to the needles in the second row. Thus, the needles may be set on a liner gauge and yet have ample room between adjacent needles so that the needles and yarn carried thereby will not interfere with each other. However, even though there is ample spacing between the staggered rows of `needles for producting a liner gauge material, the effectiveness of the machine is limited by the gauge of the straight needle plate lingers which cannot be substantially less than the thickness of the needle plus the double thickness of the yarn reciprocating between adjacent fingers, without the yarn binding between the needles and adjacent needle plate lingers.

It is therefore an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages enumerated by providing a needle plate having specially adapted needle plate lingers for permitting a liner needle gauge in a tufting machine having rows of staggered needles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a needle plate for a line gauge tufting machine in which the needle plate lingers do not have to be spaced according to the gauge of the needle.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a tufting machine having two rows of staggered needles a needle plate having lingers extending between the needles in a sinuous or non-linear arrangement'in order to provide maximum spacing between the lingers across the paths of reciprocation of the needles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a multiple needle tufting machine having two rows of staggered needles, needle plate lingers having inner portions spaced alternately less than and greater than the needle gauge of the machine and having outer oEset portions alternately spaced greater than and less than the needle gauge so that every needle is adapted to reciprocate between the adjacent portions of lingers spaced greater than the needle gauge.

Another object of this invention is to provide a needle plate linger having straight inner and outer portions offset from each other and connected by a bent portion, the lingers being located in a needle plate so that they are alternately olset in opposite directions.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a section taken along the lines 3-3;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the needle plate and a needle plate linger; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a needle plate linger before insertion into the needle plate.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, Fig. 1 discloses a portion of a transverse needle bar 10 in a conventional multiple needle tufting machine, supporting a lirst row of uniformly spaced needles v11 anda second row of uniformly spaced needles 12 offset preferably midway between the needles 11, to provide a uniform needle gauge. Each needle 11 may be provided with a loop hook 13, and each needle 12 may be provided with a loop hook 14 adapted to reciprocate in unison with the needles in order to form loops with yarn 15 carried thereby, in a well-known manner. The loop hooks 13 and 14 may be set in a reciprocable loop hook bar 16 ina conventional manner, as shown in Fig. 1.

A base fabric 17, a fragment of which is shown in Fig. 1, is fed beneath the needles 11 and 12 and above the loop hooks 13 and 14, by any conventional means, not shown, in order that the needles 11 and 12 may reciprocate through the base fabric 17 to form loops therein. It is of course lalso within the scope of this invention to form cut pile by providing cut pile hooks instead of the loop hooks 13 and 14. In order to support the fabric 17 being fed beneath the needles 11 and 12, a needle plate 20 is provided. Longitudinal straight grooves 21 are milled in the top of the plate 20 in a conventional manner. These grooves 21, however, differ from conventional needle plates in that they are not uniformly spaced in accordance with the needle gauge, but are alternately spaced either greater than or less than the needle gauge.

A needle plate linger 22 of novel construction is provided to be inserted in each groove 21. Finger 22 comprises a lirst straight inner portion 23 and a second straight outer portion 24. The inner and outer portions 23 and 24, respectively, are connected by a bent portion 2 5 in order to offset the inner and outer portions and preferably so that the longitudinal axes of the inner and outer portions will be substantially parallel. As best disclosed in Fig. 5, the inner portion 23 is bent slightly at 26 in order to retain the inner portion 23 within the groove 21.

As best disclosed in Fig. 3, with the needles 11 and 12 being staggered in two rows, the lingers 22 are inserted in the grooves 21 in such a manner that the outer portions 24 will be alternately offset toward and away from each other. Where the spacing between the inner portions 23 of the lingers is greatest, i.e. greater than the needle gauge, the outer portions 24 of the same pair of lingers will be olfset toward each other and spaced less than the needle gauge. Likewise, where the inner portions 22 of a pair of lingers are spaced closest to each other, i.e. less than the needle gauge, the outer portions 24 of the same ngers will be offset away from each other by a distance greater than the needle gauge. Thus, by alternating inner and outer portions of adjacent needle plate fingers 22 as disclosed in Fig. 3, the maximum spacing, greater than the needle gauge, will be provided between the finger portions 23 and 24 'across the paths of the needles 11 and 12 to provide ample clearance for the reciprocating needles and the yarn 15 carried thereby in order to produce tufted fabrics of extremely fine gauges, without the disadvantage of having the yarns bind between the needle plate fingers and the needles.

Although the outer portions 24 of the fingers do not have to be absolutely straight, they are preferably straight in order to permit the passage of the tufted stitching formed by the needles 11 in the first row between the fingers, as the fabric 17 is fed in the directon'of the fingers Z2 toward the rear of the machine.

The invention has been successfully employed in a multiple needle tufting machine having two rows of needles uniformly staggered on a %2" gauge. The spacing between the rows of needles was 1%. In this machine, the outer portion of the finger was offset $452 from the inner portion of the same finger. The narrower spacing between the inner finger portions was 1/s and the wider spacing between adjacent inner finger portions was 356". Thus, the inner portions of the fingers were Aalternately spaced either lfg" greater than or 1/32" less than the needle gauge of g".

It will be noted that although the base of the loop hooks 13 and 14 are in substantial transverse alignment, the shank of the loop hook 13 is offset forward or in the direction opposite the direction of fabric feed from the shank of the loop hook 14 by substantially the same dis- 'tance as the spacing between the rows of needles 11 and 12.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a multiple needle tufting machine having first i and second transverse rows of reciprocable needles for carrying yarn through a base fabric, the needles in said first row being staggered with respect to the needles in said second row, a needle plate for supporting said fabric having spaced fingers, each finger extending between a needle in said first row and an adjacent needle in said second row, each finger having a bent portion between adjacent needles, said bent portions alternately extending in opposite directions to provide sufficient transverse spacing between adjacent fingers across the path of each reciprocable needle to permit the free passage of each needle and the yarn carried thereby without binding between adjacent fingers.

2. The invention according to claim l in which each finger comprises first and second straight longitudinal portions connected by said bent portion, the needles in said first row being adapted to reciprocate between said first portions and the needles in said second row being adapted to reciprocate between said second portions.

3. 'I'he invention according to claim 2 in which the 4 spacing of said first finger portions is alternately less than and greater than the needle gauge, the spacing between first finger portions through which the needles in said first row reciprocate being greater than said needle gauge.

4. The invention according to claim 3 in which the spacing of adjacent second finger portions through which needles in said second row reciprocate is greater than said needle gauge.

5. A needle plate `for a sewing machine having a plurality of reciprocable needles of uniform diameter, comprising a fabric support plate and a plurality of spaced fingers extending in the same plane from one edge of said support plate, each finger having a first portion and a second portion offset from said first portion, said fingers comprising first and second sets, said first set of fingers being equally spaced with said second portions being offset in the same direction from said first portions,

said second set of fingers being equally spaced with said second portions offset in the opposite direction from the second portions of said first set, each finger of said second set being located between adjacent fingers of said first set, the first portion of said finger of said second set being spaced closer to the first portion of the adjacent finger of said rst set in which said second portion is offset away from said finger in said second set, the spacing between the adjacent second portions of said fingers in said first and second sets in which said second portions are offset away from each other being sufficiently great to permit the free reciprocation normal to the plane of said plate of one of said needles carrying a thread, and the spacing between the first portionslof said finger of said second set and the finger of said rst set in which said second portions are offset toward each other being sufficient to permit the free reciprocation normal to the plane of said plate of another of said needles carrying a thread.

6. In a multiple needle tufting machine having first and second transverse rows of reciprocable needles for carrying yarn through a base fabric, the needles in said first row being staggered with respect to the needles in said second row, all said needles having a uniform gauge, a needle plate for supporting said fabric having spaced fingers, each finger extending between a needle in said first row and an adjacent needle in said second row, each finger having a first portion and a second portion offset from said first portion, adjacent fingers having first and second portions offset in opposite directions, the spacing between each pair of adjacent first portions through which needlesof said first row reciprocate and the spacing between each pair of second portions through which the needles of said second row reciprocate being greater than said needle gauge.

7. The invention according to claim 6 in which the spacing between adjacent pairs of first portions and adjacent pairs of second portions through which no needles reciprocate being less than said needle gauge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,796,236 Boettcher Mar. l0, 1931 2,090,022 Baynton et al. Aug. 17, 1937 2,679,218 Jones May 25, 1954 

